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First brand new bike evert after passing my test back in 1987.

I went for a GPz305 - hindsight is a wonderful thing, engine went bang 3 months out of warranty. No claim could be made
We all now know what a lemon they were.

Never owned a Kawasaki since.

I seriously considered one - even test rode one....

i think i was seduced by the red GPZ colouring.... it was a bit of a let down and I think I thought my Honda CB250 RS was better :)

(Naturally it was the black one.....)

305 was a bag of wank. the 500s was.. mediocre but better.

GPz's dont really start til the 750..

My son-in-law (at that time riding a 1000RX) reckoned the 500 was an excellent bike - he would have had one as a secong bike for playing on (maybe cos he was less likely to lose his licence?)

He's still got the RX though.

I liked my gpz500.

decent amount of grunt for a learner rider, fat enough tyres to be forgiving. cheap as chips to buy and maintain. Never had a real problem with it.

Dale

Dalemac wrote:I liked my gpz500.

He did ..... his mum had one too

I seem to remember the gpz550 was ok... i guess i am showing my age LOL

Aladinsaneuk wrote:I seem to remember the gpz550 was ok... i guess i am showing my age LOL

Seems like it ........ altzheimers ?

I always find it amazing that most manufacturers don't pamper people who have issues. If the engine goes pop, the manufacturer and dealer should lean in, knowing they can turn a bad situation into a good one. Instead, they lose a customer for life and you've probably shared that story a few times among your biker mates too.

mickt1964 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 27, 2012 7:59 am

First brand new bike evert after passing my test back in 1987.

I went for a GPz305 - hindsight is a wonderful thing, engine went bang 3 months out of warranty. No claim could be made
We all now know what a lemon they were.

Never owned a Kawasaki since.

My Mum had one of them.. it was GREAT!! :D:D

We once did a Manx trip (from Reading) with a mate on a GPz 250 (iirc), who had the chain snap at Whitney (we were taking the long way round via Telford to Liverpool). I bundled him onto my ZXR400 (2-up, 2 sets of panniers, 1 tankbag and a HUGE rucksack) to get him back to home where he borrowed the GPz305. We CANED it up the motorways to Brum. He was absolutely flat out - I accelerated until the 305 couldn't keep up, then held it there from High Wycombe to Hilton Park. We actually caught up with the rest of the party at Hilton (which we didn't expect at all!!). Matey then thrashed the 305 around for a week and declared it a PoS, but fun!



I think it blew up about a month after we sold it on. :D

Ben wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 10, 2019 10:07 am

I always find it amazing that most manufacturers don't pamper people who have issues. If the engine goes pop, the manufacturer and dealer should lean in, knowing they can turn a bad situation into a good one. Instead, they lose a customer for life and you've probably shared that story a few times among your biker mates too.

Yup. Wouldn't cost them too much either (in the scheme of things)

The worst I ever had was probably the yamaha YB100 I passed my test on. ok - it was a 100cc learner bike, but it didn't have to be SO shit to ride. I've felt more seasick on that bike than I have mid-crossing in an Irish sea storm.

My first 'bike' - a BSA Dandy stepthru. 70cc, had 2 gears, slow and very slow with a very peculiar twistgrip preselector jobbie which meant that if you had to do an emergency stop in the higher gear you had to stop the engine to preselect lower gear cos it wouldn't pull away in the higher one. Dodgy lighting system meant rear bulb was constantly blowing and it wasn't unheard of to use 2 or 3 on my 30 mile weekend commute.

Yamaha SR 125, completely gutless and if you're over 6' 3" top speeds 65. That was the bike I took my test on, my next one was a CB500, that was a hoot when I'd had it rejeted and a K&N air filter.

Can't honestly say I've ever owned a proper duffer. In fact I've got fond memories of all the bikes I've owned. Some have been better than others, but no stinkers.

Now if you're talking about the worst bike I've ever ridden, that was a BMW R45. What on earth possessed BMW to produce this gutless, insipid sack of shit I cannot imagine. It produced fractionally over 30hp (allegedly) and had difficulty even dragging its sorry arse off the line at traffic lights. It needed two-stroke levels of skill to launch, but gave nothing back in return. It weighed around 450lbs (the same as much more powerful bikes in the range) and had zero torque. Zilch, nada, rien. When I say that my bike at the time was a tuned RD350LC, you can understand the disgust, antipathy and loathing I felt for this appalling excuse for a motorbike. The front end of the bike was raised up in the air, chopper stylee and the rear was low. Very low.

As a result it handled like a plate of sick; the front tyre (a ridiculously hard compound Pirelli SuperTouring) gave absolutely zero feedback, and combined with the power and torque-free motor was the motorcycle equivalent of pushing a supermarket trolley. Up the escalator. You never had any clue as to where the front end might be heading at any moment in time. I had to thrash the living daylights out of it to even stay in sight of the other riders, all the while wondering if I might be on my arse at any moment. Oh, and it rained. It rained and it rained and then it rained some more. In France, in August. I felt horribly cheated.

If I was ever invited to do a Room 101 list, that piece of crap would be first on the list. It was truly, definitively awful.